I Samuel 26:23 The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed
All of us carry a thousand voices with us everywhere we go. There are voices speaking to us on podcasts, radio, the internet, all kinds of so-called experts trying to convince us of one way or another in the issues we face in life. Here is a couple who is estranged. It may just look like a husband and wife in that house, but there are thousands of voices, her family, his family, the experts you can watch on daytime television, podcasts, YouTube. All kinds of voices are speaking into that marriage. The same couple may have a rebellious teenager. It may look like just the three of them, a father, a mother, and a fifteen-year-old, but there are also thousands of voices, peers at school, school officials, and all the voices one can find on a smartphone. There are those who are perhaps doing good work in a ministry or a job, and they begin to drift from what their mission and purpose was in the first place. The reason they cannot see it is because they have earbuds and eyes; throughout the day there are thousands of voices speaking to the decisions they make.
I Samuel 26 reminds you to be careful whom you hear. Let me give you one story with many voices. David is being hunted by Saul, who wants to kill him. On a couple of occasions, David has the drop on Saul but spares his life. He does the right thing. What you see here are all the voices speaking into the choices of David and Saul. The first verse is the record of such a voice, “And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon.” The Ziphites came to Saul to give up David. These people were of the tribe of Judah, David’s own tribe, yet it wasn’t safe to be on David’s side.
Earlier, in I Samuel 23:19, the Ziphites had done the same thing. You might call these men opportunists. Were they loyal to Saul? I’m not sure they were. Were they loyal to David? Certainly not. Were they loyal to anything but what was safest for them at the moment? I tend to think they were not. There are so many opportunists in the world who are always seeking the majority. They are going to say what is safe and fashionable. Is it always safe to be in the majority? No! If you think the majority is always right, you haven’t been paying attention to history or the Bible. So, to whom are you listening? So many people who can speak into our lives are opportunists, looking for an opportunity for themselves where you are simply a foil to that end.
Another category is people whose voices just tell us what we want to hear, the flatterers. David had that. There were people on a couple of occasions who said, “This is the day that God has given you to kill your enemy Saul.” God did not want David to kill King Saul, yet there were those around him who were probably good people yet referenced God to give bad advice.
This happened to Saul as well. David came to Saul and said, “Don’t listen to people who are telling you to drive me away from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord and to go serve other gods.” David was telling Saul to not listen to these people because they were just telling him what he wanted to hear. How many times do we ask advice of people who actually give us advice other than what we want to hear? If the people from whom I am getting advice never disagree with me, I should wonder if I am asking them precisely because I know they are going to agree with me. What kind of advice is that? It is confirmation bias, hearing again what I already determine to do. Does God ever disagree with you? If your God never disagrees with you, then it might be reason for suspicion that this is not actually God, but rather a super-version of yourself. God is independent. His thoughts and ways are higher and better than yours. So, are you hearing those who simply tell you what you want to hear?
There are also unstable people who speak to us. When David could have killed Saul but instead spared him, Saul had a brief, momentary change of mind. In verse 25 he said to David, “Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shall still prevail.” The verse continues, “So David went on his way, but Saul returned to his place.” David went on escaping from Saul. Saul had said good things, but he couldn’t be trusted because his actions spoke much louder than his words. It is amazing all the utterly unstable people who have made a wreck of their personal lives, but somehow think that they are the ones who have the best advice in life.
Finally, we listen to ourselves more than we should. I Samuel 27:1 says, “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” He couldn’t trust Saul. He goes on, “There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.” Here is David, who killed Goliath and still carried his sword, going to the very part of Philistia where Goliath had lived. David was discouraged, despairing, and fearful. Sometimes you are the very last person to whom you should listen.
Now, I can listen to opportunists, flatterers, the unstable, or myself, or I can listen to the God who is Judge of the universe. He doesn’t think or see like me. His ways are greater than mine. That is why the best way to respond how David responded in I Samuel 26:23, “The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’s anointed.” He is saying, “The Lord delivered you into my hand, but I wouldn’t take justice into my own hands and harm God’s anointed.” In other words, you can trust God and what He has said. God would do what was right for David and Saul, and God will take care of you.
Whom are you listening to and hearing today? Be careful whom you hear because that affects the decisions that you make.